CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2023-1717
BIRD 2
BIRD 2 (NORAD 26959) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 13 October 2023, after 21 years, 11 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
26959
International designator
2001-049C
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
Germany
Launched
22 Oct 2001Sriharikota
Re-entered (UTC)
13 Oct 2023UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
21 years, 11 months8,026 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
82.2°N to 82.2°SFinal inclination 97.8°
Mass
92 kg
Operator
DLR
Built by
DLR2?
Bus
BIRD
Programme
DLR Micro
Where it came down
Latitude band its orbit allowedExact position not recorded
No position was recorded for this re-entry. Its final orbit, inclined at 97.8°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 82.2°N and 82.2°S.
Life in orbit
21 years, 11 monthsBIRD 2’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 13 Oct 2023
11 entriesFrom the same launch
2001-049
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2023-1717
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2023-1717
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.